The Education System in Slovenia in the 20Th Century
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Aleπ GabriË* THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN SLOVENIA IN THE 20TH CENTURY ABSTRACT The establishement of public schools in Austria, after the Law on Primary School Education was enacted in 1869 has accelerated the cultural development of Slovenians. But the school continuation possibilities in Austria were provided for boys mainly, especially within the elite middle schools called gymnasiums. Soon after the establishment of Yugoslavia in 1918 the process of Slovenisation of the education system was performed and the first Slovenian University was established. The old Austrian education system, which helped the cultural (literacy) level of Slovenians to be far above the Yugoslav average at that time basically did not change a lot for a longer period, until the Education Law in 1958. In contrast to the old system, which offered a variety of choices only during the compulsory shooling, the new system shifted the time of crucial differentiation from the pupils’ age of eleventh years to the age of fifteenth years. Also, it offered majority of youth more opportunities, i.e., to reach at least a medium education level, especially with several newly established medium-level (vocational) schools. So, the once prevailed problems with hard transition within the education system were removed and replaced by an easier access to and with a higher transibility through the education system, which all helped to increase the share of youth within middle schools and in higher education. Key words: history, educational system, accessability of education, share of youth within educational process. The education system in Slovenia during the last period of Austria-Hungary Despite the fact that, up until recently, the Slovene nation has lived in multinational states in which preference was given in the school system to the language of the majority, the Slovene education system developed at the same speed as - and in some cases even * Aleπ GabriË, PhD from history, is fully employed as a scientific collaborator to the Institute of the Recent History, Ljubljana. Also, he is part-time involved as the Assistant Professor of the History of Slovenian Culture at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. DR, Vol. XVI (2000) 32-33 7 Aleπ GabriË more rapidly than that of its neighbouring countries in Central Europe. Compulsory education was introduced in Slovenia when the Law on Primary School Education was enacted on May 14, 1869. This law prescribed eight years of primary school education for all children aged from six to fourteen, but taking into consideration the fact that the eastern and southern parts of the monarchy were more poorly developed, an exception was made for these provinces, allowing them to shorten the compulsory number of school years to a minimum of six. This was also the case with Carniola. The law required that public schools (ljudska πola) be established in all districts where there were 40 or more children and situated so that these children would not have to travel a distance of over 4 km to school. Subsequently, numerous new schools were founded and in addition to this, the primary school curriculum was also extended. The reform required an increase in funding for education, so that the respective provinces were obliged to assist the poorer municipalities financially. At this time, school fees could still be introduced. However, this remnant of the old system was abolished after only a few years, as the population objected to it strongly.1 The demand for raising the quality of education in the schools for teachers constituted another great step ahead. A more thorough education of teachers was provided by teacher training colleges (uËiteljiπËe) which were founded in 1870, and which offered four- year courses. In keeping with their levels of economic development, the provinces were required to set a fixed minimum wage, which would enable teachers to devote themselves to their professions fully, without the need to supplement their income with other jobs on the side. With this, the teaching profession became independent of the Church, as the new law prohibited the previous connection between teaching and clerical professions. Teachers’ wages were increased regularly along with the wages of all other civil servants and as such, they were also entitled to a state pension upon retirement. The inequality amongst the sexes prevailing at the time was mirrored in the provision which stipulated that female teachers were entitled to only 80% wages. This was justified by the argument that they did not have families to support. In the event of marriage, women were also required to hand in their resignation, as it was considered that the husband would provide for the family.2 The law on primary school education was one of the numerous regulations passed at the end of the 1860s and the beginning of the 1870s by the German Liberals in power at the time, which were in the spirit of the liberal ideas aimed against the Concordat and the privileged position which the Catholic Church held within the state. The new law brought in a new system, supplanting the old one introduced during the reign of Maria Theresa in which there were three different types of schools already at the primary school level, making a more complete education accessible to only a very narrow segment of the school-aged population. The principle introduced by the law in 1869 was that all children had to benefit from a primary school education matching the requirements of a minimum prescribed curriculum. 8 DR, Vol. XVI (2000) 32-33 The education system in Slovenia in the 20th century Table 1 The education system in Slovenia after 1870 1.) From Age 7 to 23 For the sake of comparison, the age of seven was taken as the age at which children began attending school, although in some places, children began going to school already at the age of six, while in the mountainous regions where the climate was harsh, going to school was deferred until the age of eight. 2.) While some children attended junior secondary schools, most of the children at the same age attended higher public schools (viπja ljudska πola). For this reason, the data on attendance at school are often deceptive (e.g. the combined data on the number of grammar school students and the like) and do not give a realistic picture of the percentages of children in the various age-groups who attended school. The adoption of the new primary school legislation marked the end of the school reform which began in the revolutionary year of 1848, when the new Ministry of Education in Vienna proposed the introduction of unified primary schools for the first time in history in a draft law of the fundamental principles of public education. Yet the revolution was over before it succeeded in completing its educational reforms.3 In contrast with the primary schools, where the efforts in remodeling the old system were behind schedule, the reform of the secondary school education system was completed in 1849 and took shape in the grammar schools in a system which was to remain in use for the next hundred and ten years. DR, Vol. XVI (2000) 32-33 9 Aleπ GabriË The grammar school (gimnazija) as the main form of secondary school providing a general education became an eight-year school, divided into a four-year lower level and a four-year higher level. With this, it also definitively ceased to be a Latin school and instead of Latin, preference was given to living languages and scientific subjects. A school-leaving examination at the end of the eight years was introduced, qualifying pupils for university entrance, and in 1850, the first examination of this nature was conducted. The more demanding curriculum in the new grammar schools also called for more highly qualified teaching staff and teachers were now required to have university degrees. Many of these were also achieved by graduates at the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts. The grammar school (gimnazija) became the school for the elite. In addition to it, there were also grammar schools (realka), which in 1867 had seven-year programmes, with a four-year lower level and a three-year higher level. These schools placed greater emphasis on technical subjects and qualified pupils for matriculation at technical colleges. The lowest level of secondary school education was provided by the lower secondary schools, which provided three-year courses (meπËanska πola). These were founded in cities and their curricula were adapted to the needs of the crafts and trades in the schools’ surroundings. The problem with the Austrian education system, which was inherited by the first Yugoslavia was this early differentiation amongst the children, as pupils had to decide already at the age of 11 which schools they would attend. In the rural areas, this was mostly the higher public school (viπja osnovna πola), in the larger towns, the lower secondary schools (meπËanska πola), whereas the most gifted and also the most well- to-do attended the lower grammar school (niæja gimnazija). This was also the only school which qualified pupils for the higher level grammar school (viπja gimnazija) and the final examination, which enabled one to matriculate in all university courses. The final examination upon completion of the grammar school (realka), qualified one only for certain technical universities, while the lower secondary school was intended more for mastery of a trade or employment in the commercial sector. Yet, owing to the poor state of development of professional education in Slovenia, there were few lower secondary and secondary professional schools (strokovna πola) up until the collapse of Austria-Hungary. The Austrian education system gave access to all universities to men only. Already after the fourth grade of public school, girls were barred from enrolling in the lower grammar school.